The highlight of the event in Birmingham was Beth Chapman, our Secretary of State.

Unbeknowst to most people, she showed up unannounced at the back of the stage and demanded to speak. Apparently she wasn’t there when I announced that no elected officials would be speaking and that at this rally politicians would listen to we the people.

As a matter of fact, she wasn’t there when the Rainy Day Patriots (25 in number) stood on 280 in the middle of a tornado warning with their protest signs. She wasn’t there during our organizational meetings. She wasn’t there during setup of the event. And she certainly wasn’t there during cleanup.

Needless to say, she wasn’t a very happy camper when she was told “NO”. I guess politicians are not used to being told no because she lingered for another 30 minutes quibling for a speaking spot.

It was a great day in Alabama when a group of citizens can grow their numbers from 25 to 7000 in a couple of weeks and tell our politicians “NO!”

]]>By: southernjameshttp://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/04/16/alabama-tea-party-report/#comment-65254
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:44:29 +0000http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=5201#comment-65254I’m no big fan of guys like Sean Hannity and Rush, but the few times I have listened to Hannity’s radio show, he has emphasized that he is a conservative first, and not a cheerleader for the GOP – and I did hear him being very critical of a lot W’s decisions over the past couple of years. And being VERY critical of the “leftwing” repbulicans like Snowe, etc.

He did become an unabashed cheerleader at election time – both in 04 and in 08. But again, from the few times I happened to listen, my impression coming away from it was that his focus was to PREVENT the election of Kerry and then Hillary/Obama.

He pretty much came out and said that McCain was simply the less worse choice than the Dem – and not that McCain was, by any means, ideal.

So….”Lackey” for the Republican Party itself? Debatable. Arguably yes, at least during election season. But any Libertarian who called him a “lackey” for EITHER the Republican OR the Democrats(!), is an ignoramus.

I firmly believe that in order for this movement to try to gain back control over the insane growth and increasing power of the federal government, to grow and ultimately succeed, it is necessary to reject any participation from the hypocrite Republican elected officials currently in office or formerly in office (Newt?) who have never had a problem with growing the government, and who repeatedly lie to us while they are campaigning about “fiscal responsibilty” etc., and then backstab us as soon as they get to Washington.

But I think it will be a mistake to try to isolate this (hopefully growing) movement as being some sort of exclusive ideological domain of Libertarians; who may or may not agree to grudgingly share their spotlight with some less ideologically pure “typical Republicans.”

The time has come to try to build solid coalitions across ideological sprectrums, in my humble and very non-expert opinion – which means finding and focusing on areas of common ground and common interest, and embracing those areas of common interest. Libertarians need people like conservatives and vice versa. E.g., atheists and evangelical bible thumpers who share the same view on local vs. centralized govt., deficit spending, taxation, etc., should leave their differing views on religion at the door.

(For the rest of you, Tom is my partner both at SWGA Politics and in SWGALP organizing efforts.)

In Leesburg GA, just north of Albany, there were a FEW libertarians – me and a couple of guys that are about to become ‘L’ibertarians – but one of the more prominent speakers was the leader of the local Tax Hike Mike contingent. 17 yo kid, so one can only hope that he’ll grow out of it. I know I was similarly confused at that age.

GREAT write up on Birmingham though, and I too am looking forward to seeing Jason’s write up on Atlanta.